


Living Together

by ladymarvell



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Art, Domestic, Gen, Tea, Wanda is coping and Pietro is comforting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 15:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1904073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladymarvell/pseuds/ladymarvell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being with Wanda is the only time Pietro doesn’t mind not being preoccupied. Wanda gives him a stillness that is neither annoying nor comfortable but rather pleasing and somewhat appreciated. Though Pietro would never admit to appreciating stillness to anyone. He could barely admit it to himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Together

**Author's Note:**

> reflectionoftheeluvian prompted:  
> Pietro & Wanda living together
> 
> It is completely unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own. In my head, this takes place after Children’s Crusade but before AvX.

They pledged to each other once that no matter what separates them, no matter the circumstances that surround them, that for the rest of their lives, they would always be home for one another. It only makes sense that after everything that happened, Wanda would search out Pietro. When there is a knocking at his door in the little apartment conveniently (or not so much depending on who you are) located within a 25 miles radius of the Avenger’s tower, Pietro doesn’t seem at all surprised. He simply opens the door and steps aside, gesturing for her to enter. The first step past the threshold is the first step to finally feeling safe.

The first thing she does in Pietro’s apartment is take a shower. A long, hot shower that should, in theory, wash away everything. Wanda pays special attention to her hands. They were the hardest part of her body to keep clean. Wanda is so preoccupied by the meticulous scrubbing of her hands that she doesn’t realize how quiet it is until she steps out of the shower.

 

"Pietro. Shower’s free" Wanda calls out, roughly drying her hair with a towel. Suddenly, really suddenly, Pietro is in front of her. Looking her over. Still not speaking. "I won’t be here too long." She tells him. It’s been awhile since they’ve seen each other. She didn’t exactly part on good terms with him. Well she didn’t part on good terms with anybody really. But Pietro doesn’t seem to have the same thought process as Wanda (or maybe he does) because the next words out of his mouth are,

"Stay as long as you like." And that’s how Pietro’s apartment becomes her apartment too.

During the day, Pietro is gone and Wanda tries to keep herself occupied. She starts off by alphabetizing all the books in the tall slender bookshelf in the corner of the living room. It’s an accident really. She meant to just get a book to read but then she started separating them into different groups based on size, genre, author. Eventually she just decides on ABC order and to stop fussing over it. In the end she picks up a book of moderate length and looses herself in it for some few hours. Pietro comes home not long after sundown and they spent the rest of night sitting on the floor, legs crisscrossed, in front of the T.V . They watch late night news and eat out of Chinese cartons that sit on their knees. They watch for their friends on the television screen. (Eventually they will see their friends on the TV. Not fighting daring villains, mind you, but each other. And they will have to intervene but that’s not now.) It’s after one of these days that Pietro came home to find Wanda frantically running back and forth and all around the kitchen. Her spastic behavior was accompanied by a blaring smoke alarm and black fumes of smoke coming from the sink.

"What are you doing?" He asks. She should be used to his spontaneous arrivals but in the moment she is startled and drops the pot she is holding. It clatters to the floor loudly but Pietro’s eyes never leave Wanda’s.

"I was…" She trails off looking around the kitchen with a pathetic type of sadness. The alarm is still blaring and she kind of wants to cry but not really. There has to be a cure for all this indecisiveness. "Well, we have Chinese every night." As if that explains why the apartment was almost burnt down.

Pietro simply shrugs. “We could get pizza” At that Wanda laughs out loud, steps over the pot and falls into her brother’s arms. Pietro is known for saying the wrong things a lot but that only makes when he says the right thing all the more better. At least Wanda thinks so.

On days when Pietro isn’t running around doing who knows what, they spend hour after hour together. It’s almost as if they are young children again and time just doesn’t exist. Being with Wanda is the only time Pietro doesn’t mind not being preoccupied. Wanda gives him a stillness that is neither annoying nor comfortable but rather pleasing and somewhat appreciated. Though Pietro would never admit to appreciating stillness to anyone. He could barely admit it to himself. On one certain day in particular they brew pot after pot of tea and drink all these different flavors from England and China and India. Fresh tea leaves as Pietro runs to each country and brings them back as favors.

"Tokens of affection, dear sister." He says as he hands her the bags of tea leaves as if they were a bouquet of roses.

Wanda prefers the blends with cool, light tastes and fleeting but bold scents while Pietro relishes the blends that have smoky earthy tastes and spicy scents. They spend the day on the kitchen floor, huddled close, smelling, brewing, and drinking tea. And sure Pietro leaves to run to other countries but he always returns with something new and more exciting than the last cup. Wanda muses that this is the first time in such a long time that she has felt truly weightless. She punctuates this thought with a sip from a earl grey green blend that has hints of almond and peppermint. It’s a taste that outwardly smooth and charming but perhaps a bit confused on what exactly it wants to be. It reminds her of her brother. Pietro unknowingly punctuates that thought with a light kiss on the tender spot of her neck before he is up and out and probably half-way to Japan. The night is a restful night for Wanda. Unfortunately it is one of last.  


Wanda’s nights are full of unwanted messages. Her wonderful dreams where she grows wings and flies across the sky, completely free, turn to horrendous nightmares where she flies into the sun and burns and burns and burns. She wakes up screaming and Pietro is there in an instant, hands touching her face, grounding her to reality. He shushes her gently. Always so gentle with her.

"Just a dream" He whispers to her over and over. But she know it is no dream. It is a sign. It is a warning. She clings to him. Now that she has finally stopped screaming she can hear that there is storm outside. She remembers being young and afraid of stormy nights. The thunder would crash loudly and she would scuffle out of her bed and run, her bare feet paddling across the wooden floors. She would fling herself onto her brother’s bed and crawl into space beside him. Pietro kept her safe. Protected her from the scary storms. But now she was the storm and Wanda hadn’t quite figured out how that changes things for them. Pietro spends the rest of the night with her even after she protests.

"I’m fine Pietro. Really."

"People only say they are ‘fine’ when they’re actually not fine at all."

Wanda can’t help but roll her eyes. Still she moves over to make room for him in the great expanse of her red sheets. Somehow in all the shuffling about he ends up with two more pillows than her. Sleep comes easier for both of them now. Everything seems easier when Pietro is at her side. Perhaps it is his unyielding support, his unflinching faith of her, that makes her feel so utterly content to lay beside him. She loves him. Sometimes she wonders if she loves him more than she should, in ways she knows she should not. But in the end, they have always been there for each other when every single other person in their lives has not been and that’s all that matters really.

**Author's Note:**

> Both works of art were created by the lovely Captain C. and Professor K over at mutantlikethese.tumblr. Make sure to go check out their awesome Marvel Art.
> 
> Pictures can be found on tumblr here:
> 
> http://mutantslikethese.tumblr.com/post/32093428741/living-together-neck-kisses#notes
> 
> and here:
> 
> http://mutantslikethese.tumblr.com/post/32104186380/living-together-pillow-thief#notes


End file.
